Elven Ninja Spy AA, 11 ranger/6 monk/3 rogue

[LunaCee]

Elf Ranger 11/Monk 6/Rogue 3

Starting Stats: STR 15, DEX 13, CON 12, INT 12, WIS 16, CHA 9

All levelups into STR

Tomes required: +2 INT Tome at 7th for skill points, +1 CON Tome before 7th for Resilience
Tomes recommended: STR, CON, WIS, CHA as high as you can get

Feats:

01 Rogue Point Blank Shot
02 Monk Dodge
03 Monk Toughness, Power Attack
04 Monk
05 Monk
06 Monk Weapon Focus: Ranged
07 Monk Resilience
08 Ranger Favored Enemy: Undead (Bow Strength)
09 Ranger Zen Archery (TWF, Rapid Shot)
10 Rogue
11 Ranger (Diehard)
12 Ranger Mental Toughness
13 Ranger Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
14 Ranger (ITWF, Manyshot)
15 Ranger Improved Critical: Ranged
16 Ranger
17 Ranger
18 Ranger Improved Critical: Piercing, Favored Enemy: Human
19 Ranger (GTWF, IPS)
20 Rogue

Enhancements:

Ranger Extra Action Boost I
Ranger Skill Boost IV
Ranger Sprint Boost I
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Acid Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Explosive Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Burst Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Slaying Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Terror Arrows
Elven Ranged Attack II
Elven Ranged Damage II
Way of the Patient Tortiose II
Monk Improved Recovery I
Adept of Flame
Adept of Rain
Racial Toughness II
Ranger Favored Damage III
Elven Arcane Archer I
Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +5 Arrows
Rogue Sneak Attack Training I
Monk Ninja Spy I
Monk Jump II
Monk Tumble II
Ranger Energy of the Wild II
Ranger Dexterity I
Monk Wisdom II
Rogue Improved Trap Sense I

Elven Arcane Archer with a couple perks. Not the strongest in melee, but is capable of using melee to quickly build up Ki to use Shadow Fade to either gain incoporeal miss chance and remain in melee, or benefit from the invisibility to attempt an escape. Also features full UMD, full trap skills, 3d6+3 base sneak attack, +9 damage to favored enemies, extremely fast short term movespeed, in general a nimble character with high burst damage and basic support while specials are on cool down. Expected to be fairly effective at soloing as well. One of the tricks being able to finish killing a group and use remaining Ki to shadow fade in conjunction with speed boost to completely bypass some groups.

STR 20 base + 6 item + 2 rams + 2 rage pot + 3 STR tome + 3 exceptional + 4 yugo pot + 8 Titan's Grip + 2 Sun Stance = 50 STR, or +19 to damage on ranged and +20 for melee attacks (I'll grant that Madstone would get you higher... but considering this build is capable of UMDing heal and raise scrolls... probably not the best idea)

+19 max bow str bonus
+2 elven ranged damage
+2 rams might
+9 ranger favored damage
+4 GH scroll = +36 base damage on ranged attacks versus favored enemies

+20/30 max melee str bonus
+9 ranger favored damage
+2 rams might
+5/10 power attack
+4 GH scroll
= +35 base damage on favored enemies in melee with mainhand with TWF, +50 base damage on favored enemies with two hander
Conditional 3d6+11 SA if your target is attacking somebody else than you (assuming Tharne's Goggle)

Looks like a fairly viable build... only thing I'm debating is whether I want to put the last four monk levels off until later in the build... perhaps *after* I've picked up manyshot, though taking them earlier means no worries about needing a disease immunity item for mummy rot when doing necro/sands. Well... and perhaps choosing something else as the third favored enemy.

Comments and or suggestions?

[Doganpc]

This might sound silly, but what do you need the Ranger levels for if you're already an Elf? Then... why so much DEX when you take Zen Archery later on, wouldn't that be better used for CON? Could this be better as Rogue 3/Fighter 2/Monk 15... or something along those lines?

Dogan
En Garde!

[LunaCee]

This might sound silly, but what do you need the Ranger levels for if you're already an Elf? Then... why so much DEX when you take Zen Archery later on, wouldn't that be better used for CON? Could this be better as Rogue 3/Fighter 2/Monk 15... or something along those lines?

Dogan
En Garde!

The DEX is merely to qualify for Dodge, which is a required feat for the Ninja Spy PrE.

As for the Ranger levels... IPS has a DEX 19 requirement, Manyshot has a DEX 17 Requirement, ITWF and GTWF has a DEX 17 requirement. By taking ranger levels I automatically get them *without* having to have that high a DEX score. Meaning instead of having to have a high natural DEX score I can put the points someplace else.

[unbongwah]

What does high WIS get this build that high DEX does not? Higher Will saves, sure, but what else? An elf with so many ranger levels is going to have a much easier time maxing out their DEX than their WIS, so at first glance I can't figure out what you gain.

[Greeka]

My thinking to the reason for the higher wisdom score is a couple of eason though I did not look at the feats he took before writing this.

With the higher wisdom he is not required to carry a wisdom item to be able to cast all ranger spells for one. Additionally the wisdom modifier affects his ac granted by his monk levels though I am not sure how much so with just 6 levels. Lastly, if he took monk's stunning fist or chooses to swap it in later he can use it situationally to stun foes with weighted wraps and a +6 wisdom item to get the best possible dc for his stunning fist. At which point he can switch to two weapon fighting to go to quick melee damage which would proc his sneak attack damage every hit.

Just how I am viewing it.

[Kriogen]

A very unusual hybrid that looks OK. I like

I would go with Wis 14 tho and use those 4 build points for STR, DEX or CON.

Why Resilience if I may ask?

Third FE? Take something that is immune vs criticals or you can't insta-kill.

[LunaCee]

Water Stance + Resilience is a stacking +6 to all saves. Add in GH from a scroll... a +5 resistance item, the +1 all saves jewelry ritual and a few other things and I should be able to at need get all my saves near or over +30 if needed.

Mainly useful if damage isn't the main priority and just staying alive is.

Third FE would probably be Golem or Elemental then... probably Elemental, more of them than golems in the game.

As for high Wisdom... with Zen Archery it controls my chance to hit with ranged, it controls my will save, it gives me a little bit of extra SP to use on arrow imbues the higher it goes, it helps with low to mid level play when I can get away with using stuff like unbalancing strike because the DC I have to hit to make it work is still low enough.

[krud]

I'm with the others about the wisdom. You already got the higher elf base dex plus the enhancements, which will make pushing dex up easier than wisdom. With the feat you save from zen archery you can take improved mental toughness to help with sp, iron will, or an extra toughness feat.

I had resilience on my rogue mutt a while back. If your concern is having high enough saves to survive combat situations, you won't need resilience. The only thing that requires very high saves are elite traps. My str based half rog used the boost for difficult traps, but combat saves are usually lower. I dropped it long ago and never regretted it.

If anything, switch them out when you get to higher levels, and their usefulness is diminished.

[unbongwah]

As for high Wisdom... with Zen Archery it controls my chance to hit with ranged,

As does DEX and as I pointed out, you'll be able to max out your DEX higher than your WIS thanks to your racial & ranger bonuses, without burning a feat.

it controls my will save,

True, although it's only an extra point or two. And by going high WIS / so-so DEX, you're trading Reflex save for Will save, so it's kind of a wash, IMHO.

it gives me a little bit of extra SP to use on arrow imbues the higher it goes

A very little bit, like maybe enough for one more imbue at lvl 20. Is that really worth the extra build points you spent on WIS?

it helps with low to mid level play when I can get away with using stuff like unbalancing strike because the DC I have to hit to make it work is still low enough

Perhaps so, but your DCs are partially based on monk levels, so that stuff will be useless at higher levels. It just seems like you're gimping yourself in the long run for questionable benefits at lower levels. I'm not suggesting you dump-stat WIS, it just seems like base WIS 14 is ample and those 4 extra points are better spent elsewhere. I kinda like the idea of having Resilience + Water stance, though, to beef up saves.

I did a semi-similar build: human ranger 12 / monk 7 / rogue 1, although light path instead of dark for the free heals.